YouStart Will Support Graduates With Soft Loans- Finance Minister

Mr Ken Ofori-Atta, the Minister of Finance, says Government’s YouStart programme will support young graduates, school leavers and small businesses with soft loans of up to GHC 50,000 to expand their enterprises.

The initiative, the Minister stated, would provide youth-led enterprises with a standard loan package of between GHc 100,000 to GHc 400,000 at concessional rates for Small and Medium Enterprises through financial institutions.

Mr Ofori-Atta said this on Wednesday at the maiden Youth School of this year's New Year School and Conference in Accra.

Speaking on the topic: "Building a Sustainable Entrepreneurial State: Government's Policy for Harnessing our Population Dividend," the Minister advised the youth to take advantage of business opportunities to better their lives and contribute to national development.

The YouStart programme was introduced by the Government in 2020 as a vehicle to support the youth through the development of commercially viable businesses for access to capital, training and technical skills to enable them operate and be self-sustaining.

The Ghana Enterprises Agency (GEA) is implementing the programme in its 16 regional office-business advisory and resource centres across the country.

Mr Ofori-Atta explained that the initiative would be possible if the electronic-levy was passed, saying, " the levy is an essential tool to increase our tax to Gross Domestic Product ratio from 13 per cent to 16 per cent."

"The E-levy will help to reduce borrowing and ensure we have the revenue to sustainably invest in entrepreneurship, youth employment, road infrastructure and debts."